Category Archives: Topps Licensed

Tuesday afternoon at 12:00, WAX x Topps launched their first partnership on the WAX Blockchain by selling Series 1 Garbage Pail Kids packs. Just 28 hours later all the packs had sold out. The first set had a run of 10,000 Standard packs, and 2,000 Mega packs. The Mega packs went quickly in the first 7 hours, with the Standard packs selling out the next afternoon. Topps and WAX were very happy with the results of the initial launch. Selling out quickly was something that was in the back of the minds of Topps. VP of Topps Digital Tobin Lent told GPKNews, “We are thrilled of course. This was our first step into blockchain, so to see this type of success out-of-the gates is fantastic.  We weren’t quite sure how it would go. However, many of us thought a 24 hour sellout was possible. We figured there would be demand from a wide variety of folks, from GPK fans to blockchain enthusiasts and other digital collectors. That’s exactly what we saw.”

WAX had similar feelings on the launch. They are also thrilled with the secondary market support the set has been receiving. Evan Vandenberg, Director of Business Development at WAX, told GPKNews, “I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I was a little surprised. The response was overwhelming, especially considering the fact that these were a first-of-their-kind release and people took a few hours to figure out exactly what these blockchain-based cards were about. More surprising and important to me has been the activity on the secondary markets. We are on pace for secondary market sales to top well over $100K of transactions in the first week since launch. This shows that people genuinely value these assets and are willing to spend money to acquire cards and complete sets. Cards and sets are being sold for hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars on the secondary markets. For me, this was the biggest win and shows that future releases will likely garner even more interest.”

So, who exactly bought all these packs quickly? Based on activity on Telegram and Blockchain secondary marketplace sites, it appears the WAX community was very excited about the launch and fully supported it. While, it may take some time for longtime GPK collectors to warm to the idea of digital cards, there were also many collectors who not only bought packs, but are actively engaged in the marketplace. The secondary marketplace has taken off in the days after release. While secure sales can’t happen via eBay, prices for packs and cards are still soaring. Mega packs have been selling for $100 or more. In no surprise, Adam Bomb is the most popular selling for individual cards. The rare sketch variations have been fetching right around $600, while the prisms over $100. Other sketches and prisms have also been constant sellers. There are also sales happening on secondary blockchain marketplace websites. Simple Market is one website where there are over 4000 cards listed for sale. Prices have seen similar results as ebay, although Wax tokens are needed to purchase cards.

There is not currently an integrated marketplace to buy and sell on WAX’s website. The company is working on a solution. There is a steep learning curve for GPK collectors who want to buy on secondary blockchain markets. Especially if they want to acquire Wax tokens to purchase cards. Until WAX either integrates a marketplace or the third party websites make it easier to use common payment methods, it will be a barrier for regular GPK collectors to enter the market. The Wax website also has plenty of improvements that will need to be made. Although, the company is listening and changes are already happening. Better search and sorting functions for the Inventory tab were launched Thursday on the website.

Is this the future of card collecting? There’s no doubt this first launch was hugely successful. Was it successful because the WAX community finally has a major player on the Blockchain? Or are there really collectors out there who are collecting the cards? There seems to be no shortage of collectors on the GPK channel in Telegram who are trying to put together base and prism sets. There are also people who are looking for deals, and trying to flip, or hold long term as an investment. Is there room for both investors and collectors? Thats probably the big question, we will see. How will pack and card sales hold up in the coming days and weeks to come? The “first” of something always seems to be more collected. Will collectors want to keep their digital assets long term? As for what’s next for WAX and Topps? With a quick sellout, it’s obvious there will be more GPKs in the future for the Wax Blockchain. In a tweet earlier in the week, Topps Digital teased a future Series 2 GPK set. As for what WAX is working on Vandenberg told GPKNews, “Without going into too much detail, I can tell you we are working hard on plans to release upcoming GPK sets in the not too distant future. We have a few very cool concepts in the work for the next packs, so stay tuned. As far as other Topps properties go, I will leave that officially unanswered at this time, but I can tell you we are both interested in figuring out the next IP to bring to the WAX blockchain.” Meanwhile, Topps Tobin Lent told us, “We are very excited to introduce the beloved GPK brand to a new platform and new fans. We are just getting started. More to come.” Looks like the digital future of card collecting has arrived.

Well that was fast! After launching at 12:00 Eastern time today, the Mega Packs of the new Topps x WAX Blockchain Garbage Pail Kids have sold out. The packs cost collectors $24.99 for 30 digital cards. It’s basically like buying 6 packs for the price of 5. There were 2,000 Mega packs created for the launch. After the first hour they had sold over 500 packs. It ended up taking just over 7 hours to sell out of the Mega packs. The Standard packs have not had the same luck. As of press time there are still a little more than 8,300 of the 10,000 Standard packs still available. Still I’m not sure many GPK collectors could have predicted the rate at which these have been selling.

Collectors have been trading all day, despite some odd random errors popping up on the site. WAX has been busy squashing bugs as the day has gone on. Collectors familiar with the cryptocurrency world have also been listing cards for sale. There is currently no integrated marketplace on the WAX website. The company is working on that feature. In the meantime WAX has suggested to collectors in tweets to use the wax.simplemarket.io to buy and sell cards. There looks to be a steep learning curve for collectors not already involved in the crypto world. However, websites like this one will be the main place to buy/sell until WAX incorporates that into their website.

Collectors have also been asking about the “print run” for each type of card. Is that what we should be calling it, “print run”?? Here’s a rundown based on the math of the percentages they’ve given:  

• Total Cards – 110,000
  • Standard: 10,000 Packs x 5 cards per pack = 50,000 cards
  • Mega: 2,000 packs x 30 cards per pack = 60,000 cards
• Prism “B” Names – 20,000
  • Standard: 10,000 packs x 1 per pack = 10,000
  • Mega: 2,000 x 5 per pack = 10,000
  • 20,000 total prism / 41 different names = 487 each B name Prism
• Prism “A” Names – 11,000
  • Standard: 10,000 packs x 0.5 per pack = 5,000
  • Mega: 2,000 x 3 per pack = 6,000
  • 11,000 total prism / 41 different names = 268 each A name Prism
• Sketch “B” Names – 3,000
  • Standard: 10,000 packs x 0.1 per pack = 1,000
  • Mega: 2,000 x 1 per pack = 2,000
  • 3,000 total sketch / 41 different names = 73 each B name Sketch
• Sketch “A” Names – 1,500
  • Standard: 10,000 packs x 0.05 per pack = 500
  • Mega: 2,000 x 0.5 per pack = 1,000
  • 1,500 total sketch / 41 different names = 36 each A name Sketch
• Collector Edition – 40
  • Standard: 10,000 packs x 0.002 per pack = 20
  • Mega: 2,000 x .01 per pack = 20
  • 40 total Collector / 8 different names = 5 each Collector Edition
• Base Cards – 74,460
  • Standard: 50,000 – 15,000 Prisms – 1,500 Sketch – 20 Collector = 33,480 total base cards
  • Mega: 60,000 – 16,000 Prisms – 3,000 Sketch – 20 Collector = 40,980 total base cards
  • 74,460 total base cards / 82 cards = 908 per base card

If my math is off on any of these, please let me know. Interesting numbers. The math doesn’t come out exact on the parallels. Most likely because the pack odds are rounded, much like Topps does with physical cards. These numbers should be very close to what’s out there for each card type.

The time has come for digital Garbage Pail Kids to go prime time. Today Topps and WAX launched their joint venture to offer digital Garbage Pail Kids on the Blockchain. Collectors can signup and start their collection now at https://toppsgpk.io.This has been something the companies have been working on for nearly two years now. This is Topps first step into selling digital cards on the Blockchain. So what is the Blockchain, and why is this a better mousetrap for digital cards?

The Blockchain is part of the cryptocurrency world. But here’s the good news for collectors. As the Rock would say, “It doesn’t matter…”, what the Blockchain is. To make a very long story short, the Blockchain is basically a secure digital notebook that stores all kinds of information on digital items. Why should digital collectors care? This system gives three distinct advantages over the current digital collections offered on other Topps card apps like WWE Slam or Topps Bunt. 1) Ownership belongs to the collector. Cards can be bought and sold on any website that can view Blockchain assets. 2) All information on each individual card is tracked on the Blockchain. All ownership and transaction details will follow the card and can be viewed. 3) Finally,  digital cards can be bought and sold securely. No more having to use eBay and hoping there isn’t fraud with the transaction.

For collectors wanting to give digital cards a shot they don’t need to understand or even see the nuts and bolts about what makes this work. WAX has built a website where collectors can purchase packs, view their cards, and trade with others. For their first release the companies are launching Original Series 1 cards. All 82 cards, (41 with a/b versions), from the first series of GPK are available. Two pack options are available. Collectors can buy a 5 card pack for $4.99, or a 30 card pack for $24.99. Packs can be purchased with a regular credit card, or cryptocurrency. There are a set amount of packs available at launch. Once the packs are sold out, no more will offered of this series. There are a total of 10,000 5 card packs, and 2,000 30 card packs available. Collectors will be able to see a countdown of how many packs are left for sale on the website.

When packs are opened, each card has a small digital animation. Each pack can contain up to four different types of cards. The most common card type is Base cards. Uncommon Prism cards are randomly inserted into packs. These feature a shiny prismatic effect. Rare Sketch cards feature an animation that goes from pencil sketch to final card image. Finally, Super Rare Collector’s Edition cards have a special animation. While all 41 characters are available in Base, Prism, and Sketch versions, there are only 4 characters, (10a/b, 16a/b, 19a/b, 34a/b), available in the Collector’s Edition subset. Each pack type has different on the odds of receiving of of the rarer cards. The 5 card pack offers; 1 “B” name Prism Card, 50% chance at an “A” Prism card, 10% chance at a “B” Sketch card, 5% chance at “A” Sketch card, and 0.2% chance at a Collector’s Edition card. The 30 card pack offers; 5 “B” Prism cards, 3 “A” Prism cards, 1 “B” Sketch card, 50% chance at “A” Sketch card, and 1% chance at Collector’s Edition card.

Once collectors own cards, they will appear in the Inventory section of their account. Collectors can view the fronts and backs of all their cards. They can also view individual information for each card such as transaction and ownership history. Collectors can then use the Trading and Community sections of their website. All the options you would expect are there. Collectors can search for a card they want and submit trade offers. Alternatively, they can make trade offers to other collectors they are friends with. There is also a wishlist feature where collectors can post which cards they are looking for. There is also a section of their site that allows collectors to view all the available cards that are offered.

What isn’t available yet on the website is a marketplace that allows collectors to buy and sell cards with other collectors. WAX tells GPKNews that they are working on an integrated marketplace that will debut later. In the meantime, collectors can use any of the Blockchain marketplace websites out there that support the WAX Wallet. WAX will offer tutorials on how to do this in the coming days.

Topps and WAX will be going all out to support the launch in the coming days and weeks. There are 100 special Gold cards that will be awarded randomly to collectors purchasing packs. There will also be plenty of contests on the companies social media accounts where collectors can win free packs. This is just the first project between the two companies. Once GPK plays the guinea pig role, look for the companies to expand to other Topps properties.